


he'll tell him in the morning

by Moransroar



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: Blink And You Miss It Slash, Hurt Peter Parker, M/M, Near Death Experiences, Other, Peter Parker Gets a Hug, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Protective Tony Stark, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, could be seen as both slash or father/son you decide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-21
Updated: 2020-04-21
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:34:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23777677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moransroar/pseuds/Moransroar
Summary: "Anyone got eyes on Peter?"Several voices in his ear regretfully inform him that they don't or haven't seen him.As the one person who last saw him, Tony realizes he’s going to have to take care of this himself.
Relationships: Peter Parker & Tony Stark, Peter Parker/Tony Stark
Comments: 4
Kudos: 156





	he'll tell him in the morning

Tony liked to think that they’d had plenty of incidents involving water, but then fate or whatever-the-hell has a hold of life’s reigns rears its ugly head and Tony finds himself watching, mid fight, how Peter’s too-limp body gets thrown across the bay, toward the water, and right into the path of an oncoming ferry.

There’s nothing he can do, which is the worst part of it. He’s caught up in a wrestling match halfway up in the sky trying to get these enormous, electronic wasp-like creatures off of him before they can stick their sharp, metal stingers through his chest plating. It’s excruciating because this isn’t something that should be holding him back. He should be able to handle a handful of dog-sized buzzers. He’s handled so much worse before.

And Peter’s not responding on the comms.

“Anyone got eyes on Peter?” He sends a powerful blast from one of his repulsors right through a creature’s twenty odd eyes and watches as it freefalls down to the ground below.

Several voices in his ear regretfully inform him that they don’t or haven’t seen him.

As the one person who last saw him, Tony realizes he’s going to have to take care of this himself. That wouldn’t have been a problem if he hadn’t been covered in mean creatures. He already hated those things enough as it was. Why’d they have to get that big? And that….advanced.

Tony keeps an eye on the bay. He fights his way through the swarm around him to get a little closer to the water, make sure he can see Peter the second his head resurfaces. The ferry speeds by but it’s going far too slow for Tony’s liking, who is still holding out hope that the kid must have come up on the other side, out of Tony’s line of sight. That he’s fine.

The passing ferry leaves the water restless, and there’s still no sign of Peter. Tony waits a second. And another.

Until FRIDAY informs him that Peter is unconscious, and taking in water.

Tony tries not to panic. Peter’s been through a lot, he can handle more than most people his age, he has those spider powers to hopefully at least buy him some time, right? Right. Except he’s not so sure of himself and he’s not about to take any risks.

“Someone has to get Peter out of the water. Now. Right now.”

Natasha is on the other side of town. As is Clint. Steve is trying not to get stung and barely managing. Thor is halfway across the galaxy, Rhodey is in London for business, and Bruce is in Zambia to introduce a new vaccine that Stark Industries sponsored.

If Tony doesn’t get these wasps off soon he’s afraid he might not get to Peter on time.

He fights twice as hard. Stingers scratch sharply at the suit’s plating, leaving gashes and scratches and dents all over, and he throws around repulsor beams more carelessly than before, frankly not really caring where the blasts ultimately land. He needs to get to Peter. The kid can’t drown. Can’t go like this. He’s supposed to finish college and start up his own company and change the future. That’s what Tony always envisioned he’d do, not play Little Mermaid at the bottom of the Upper Bay.

The second he sees an opportunity to get out of his personal beehive he shoots toward the water, asking FRIDAY to locate Peter, and he has him out of there in a matter of seconds, but he’s not sure if it’s enough. Setting all his thrusters to max, Tony flies Peter off someplace safer, somewhere the buzzing doesn’t reach.

Peter’s skin is a pale blue, and Tony’s terrified that he’s too late, but according to FRIDAY his heart is still beating. He doesn’t wake up when shaken and doesn’t seem to be breathing when Tony tilts Peter’s head back and watches his chest for any positive signs. Shit. Okay. He wastes no time immediately breathing valuable oxygen into Peter’s lungs and initiating CPR when that doesn’t seem to have much of an effect. His suit peels away so he can settle his hands against Peter’s chest and start pressing, his faceplate retracting so that he can speak directly to him and so that the voices of his colleagues still fighting those creatures far away stop and don’t distract him. He can’t remember the last time he’s had to do this but FRIDAY walks him through it, sharing updates on how the boy’s doing but it’s not looking up.

It’s terrifying.

He puts his full weight into pressing down against Peter’s chest, his own heart beating faster as if it’s willing for Peter’s to do the same, inch back from how dangerously slowly it’s working the blood around Peter’s body.

“Karen, keep our boy warm, will you?” He huffs out, and gets a pleasant although vaguely worried affirmative. Peter’s suit dries in an instant, and warmth pours from it – something that will hopefully encourage Peter’s body not to give up while Tony works himself into a sweat giving compressions.

“C’mon, Pete. C’mon now. Not now.” 

Tony’s hands are shaking when he reaches for the kid’s face, fingers on his nose and chin to part his lips and force air into his lungs again.

He can’t give up. He’s not giving up. He was supposed to be the one to go before Peter, not the other way around. The kid’s got his whole life ahead of him and Tony should have been able to see it all unfold. But Peter’s not responding, and Tony fears the worst.

He presses down so hard onto Peter’s chest that he’s afraid he’ll crack his ribs, but Peter’s body is resilient while Tony’s panic grows. His arms are sore and aching, his vision blurry as he watches Peter’s motionless face for a sign, any sign. 

“You know I’m not quick to beg but please, kid. Please.”

Peter sputters. Once.

“That’s it. Come on. Come on. There you go.”

He pushes down again, and this time Peter coughs, but he’s not yet taking in any air.

Tony switches from compressions to rescue breaths again until he pulls back and Peter takes in a big gulp of air by himself, followed by wet coughing and his body turning onto his side, curled around where Tony is knelt on the ground. There’s water coming out of Peter’s nose and he flounders.

Tony wants so badly to wrap his arms around the boy and squeeze him tightly when he actually starts to breathe in raggedly and reaches for him the second he opens his eyes, like he’s happy to see Tony, like Tony was always the person he’d reach for first when he wakes up from something like this. 

In that moment, Tony has a million new ideas on how to improve Peter’s suit and he knows that he’ll lock himself in his workshop until the updates are finished, and won’t come out until he knows something like this will never happen again.

The poor kid is crying. Tony reaches down and lies next to him, keeping him in a safe position while still being able to wrap him up in a firm hug and run a hand through his hair. He can’t believe he almost lost him. 

“It’s alright. You’re okay. Deep breaths, I’ve got you.”

Tony’s grip on Peter is firm, his hands trembling despite his best effort not to show just how shaken up he is from watching Peter lie there, bluish and still and not breathing at all and…

Tony buries his face into the crook of Peter’s neck.

He can’t afford to let that happen again.

He can’t afford to let anything happen to Peter, ever again. And definitely not if there is something he can do about it. 

“I’m never letting you out of my sight again.”

Peter sits on Tony’s lap on the way home. It’s under the pretense that this allows Tony to keep the boy warm, but he knows it’s mostly so he can keep a hand wrapped around Peter’s ribs and count his breaths, and feel the steady rush of air against the side of his neck every few seconds where Peter lays his head. He’s seen a medical professional, and May has been informed and Tony promised that he’s in good hands, that he’ll stay with Tony for the night – just so he can keep an eye on him and have the potentially necessary medical supplies nearby.

Peter is pretty shaken up, but other than that he seems to be doing fine.

Tony doesn’t dare let him stray too far.

Peter’s been quiet since the incident, only answering to any questions the doctors had back at the med bay, giving the occasional panicked look when Tony was asked to leave or whenever someone wanted to talk to him in private. It would have warmed Tony’s heart if the situation had been any different, maybe.

Tony continued to reassure Peter. Kept telling him he wasn’t going to go far, wasn’t going to leave, wasn’t letting him go through this alone.

“I’m here,” he kept saying, “Don’t worry, kiddo.”

At a certain point he wasn’t sure who he was reassuring more between the two of them.

Once home, Tony helps Peter eat something and tucks him into bed after he’s taken a tentative shower with Tony right outside the door, but it’s not long before Peter’s standing by the couch again, looking exhausted but too shaken to sleep.

And frankly, Tony’s not doing much better.

“You know what?” He says, because he wants Peter to get some sleep above anything else right now, “Let’s go see if my bed’s any comfier.”

Peter goes without protest, and when they’re lying down he doesn’t hesitate to tuck himself up against Tony’s side like he belongs there, and Tony has the creeping feeling that maybe he does.

He’s never been more scared to lose someone than he was when he realized that Peter wasn’t breathing.

He’s never dreaded the realization that maybe he couldn’t save Peter more than he did that afternoon.

Maybe it’s time to start accepting just how much Peter means to him.

Just how much he loves him.

And embrace it in the same way he now takes Peter so readily into his arms, tucking his nose into the boy’s hair and letting his hand skim up and down Peter’s back until he feels him shiver under his touch and let out a soft rush of breath across Tony’s collarbone.

It’s a scary thought; loving someone so much. But with every breath Peter takes and exhales across his chest, Tony’s a little more glad to be able to feel as much as he does.

Now all he needs to do is find a way to show Peter.

He’ll work on that first thing in the morning.

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for a request I got on Tumblr. [Come send me a prompt!](https://iloveyou3thousand.tumblr.com/)


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